Unforgotten Home

[Paige Rivers]

A lonely paper was laying on the stone bench next to Paige. Paige had wanted to make her Ancient Runes homework, but every time something else came up. She was staring out of the window looking at the beautiful landscape that was looming outside. The black lake was glittering in the faint sunlight, it made everything look so magical. Faint cries could be heard from the ghosts in the corridor and sniffles and giggles from the portraits. The year had started again and Paige had missed Hogwarts, she missed the Magical atmosphere that always lingered in the giant castle. It was her third year already and Paige had the tendency to get lost around the castle, in her first year she wanted to explore every hall and every secret of this castle, but it was impossible to do so. There were too many secrets passages and doors that seemed to change positions every now and then. Electives were things to think about, she had just picked everything except for Muggle studies, she had no clue what she wanted to be after Hogwarts. Maybe work at the ministry or as a healer at St Mungo’s. Paige had found this corridor to be alone, without any house mates. Some portraits had started talking to her, which Paige still found disturbing even after three years of being at Hogwarts.

When Paige sneezed some portraits said bless you, it was kind of creepy that dead people were being polite to her. Once again Paige started to make her ancient runes homework, it wasn’t that hard, but she just could not concentrate. Paige was hearing some faint footsteps in the corridors close to the one she was in. It was hard to be alone in the castle, it was filled with students, professors and ghosts. Well, not that the ghosts cared about the fact that you sat in their corridor, but their presence was still there. Paige did not like dead people and the fact those ghosts were once human was making her shudder a little. The big book that they used for Runes was pretty interesting, but most third years did not choose runes as their elective. The loneliness was creeping over Paige and she missed a good chat with her friends, she had been busy with everything from homework to Quidditch practises. Paige had made the first part of her homework and when she looked up she was sure she had seen a shadow of someone.

 

[Abel Smith]

Abel was utterly alone - apparently how he liked it these days. But that was wrong. He could barely function without someone to talk to, that was probably why he became such close friends with Killy. Until he decided to try and not be friends with his fellow Slytherin. It wasn't exactly working, since Killua knew that he was being stupid, but he was trying and now found himself missing his friend dearly. If he actually succeeded in making Killua second guess their friendship, Abel was not sure what he would do with himself. He couldn't exactly hangout with his sisters, whether they be Slytherins or not. Kialla was nearly insufferable these days with her habit of feeling guilt, and Emilee was never sufferable to begin with. Least of all now.

Abel walked along the corridor with his robes on and his arms folded tightly across his chest. Kill us wouldn't be here, but the Slytherin kind of wished that was not the case. He wanted to avoid the boy, but when he did he felt worse. He sighed, this was so stupid. 'That's it. First person I huge, I'm talking to them,' he thought stubbornly, pausing when he actually did find someone. Now, he regretted making that promise. She was on a bench by herself, seemingly having the portraits for company. He probably looked like that at times when at home. It was pretty sad.

Abel sat down beside the girl, however, there was a lot of space between them as he did not want to sit close to her. It wasn't that he was contagious to the degree that it would pass to people next to him, but he himself was comfortable with this distance. He forced on a smile, trying to be not awkward. "Hi," he said, finding this far more difficult that he assumed. "What're you doing here by yourself? What's your name?"
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[Paige Rivers]

Paige was right about the shadow, soon after the shadow joined her. It was a boy, somewhat older than her and he sat on the bench on the opposite of hers. Paige and her old boyfriend Alan had just broke up and it was weird to be alone with a boy again. Memories flooded back and she looked at him, he was a fellow Slytherin in an older year. Paige was lonely lately, she just did not saw her friends anymore and her books and papers just did not give her the same joy as they gave her a year ago. Paige looked at the boy, at first she had not even noticed that he was talking to her. She was always late at responding, but this boy must thought that she could not speak at all. ''Oh sorry, Hello.'' Paige responded shyly, her cheeks becoming a faint colour of red. ''I do not know, I wanted to be alone quite frankly.'' Trying to come up with the right words was hard, she had not talked to someone in a while and her English accent was shining trough her speech. ''But, talking to someone feels good too'' Paige did not want to scare away the boy, because she wanted to be alone, she actually liked talking to him.

''I am Paige, Paige Rivers'' Paige said in a soft sounding voice, ''You?'' To be honest she was really interested in his name, she had not seen him before and he looked honest and nice. Paige wanted to be polite and shoved her papers in the Ancient Runes book, the book and some other stuff was shoved into her brown bag that was laying on the ground. ''I haven't seen you before?'' Paige said questioningly, she was curious about the boy. Paige was thinking about what might be a reason, she was always with Alan and he was pretty jealous at times, which made her look less at boys. She also avoided the Slytherin Common room at all costs, she did not like all the joyful new first years. They always thought that they owned the place and Paige could not stand that kind of happiness.

 

[Abel Smith]

There was a thick silence, which Abel actually found to be rather comforting, somewhat. There was no yelling involved, so he was happy. There had been far too much yelling as of late for the fifth year to stand. He hated yelling. However, it appeared as if she did not want him there, and he was fine with that. Somewhat. Obviously he did not see the problem in lurking around the castle where ever he pleased, but he respected that the younger girl wanted to be alone, and so solitude he would give her - until she appeared to change her mind, making Abel rest himself down once more, and make himself comfortable on the bench. They really needed better benches. "Okay, then I'll stay," he replied, smiling slightly. He had no idea why he smiled, as he was not happy nor comfortable, but it was more of a reflex. A forced emotional response that felt strangely normal. "Not sure how much conversation I'll be, but I'll try." The Scottish boy soon added, running his fingers through his hair. He hated this sitting business, doing nothing but sitting just wasn't in his nature. He hated doing nothing.

Abel, having adverted his eyes to the floor, slowly looked back up to hold his fellow Slytherin's gaze. The name rung a bell in his mind, as remembering names was something he was always good at. However, he knew that he had not truly met her previously. He doubted his former self would have had anything to do with this girl if she were not in his year or a member of a family his own had ties to. The young Smith knew nothing of her blood status - and these days had little care as he no-longer counted himself among the proud Smith family, so he was happy for now to talk to her. Perhaps even form some kind of friendship, although he doubted it would go too far. He only ever hung out with Killy, and Killy could be somewhat of a jerk to most people if Abel wasn't there to shut him up. "Abel," he said. "Abel Smith." He had two other sisters in Slytherin, and he really hoped that Paige knew neither Emilee nor Kialla, because he doubted she would have good things to say about either of them. "Possibly. I'm in your house - obviously," he gestured to his robes absentmindedly, "otherwise, you've probably seen my wander. I do that a lot." Abel tended to wander everywhere, even in places he should not be, which was what put him in this situation in the first place. A rather cruel lesson had been learnt. "You okay?" Abel was not a legilimens or anything, but Miss Rivers did not seemed particularly happy, and for a girl that young, he really did hope this wasn't her natural state. That would really suck.
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[Paige Rivers]

The fact that the boy did not left her as soon as she had said something wrong, was a thing on its own. Paige always tried to be perfect for everyone, most Slytherins did not like weakness and would use it as an advantage over you. If the boy stayed with her out of pity, it was bad, most Slytherins did not like weaknesses and Paige was one of them. ''I am not much of a speaker either.'' Paige muttered almost silently, she had not been herself and people were noticing it. Paige was good at noticing changes in peoples behavior and this boy did not like sitting very much, so Paige stood up and looked out of the window, waiting for the boy to join her. ''Nice to meet you Abel.'' When he gestured to his robes, Paige noticed that he was a fellow Slytherin. Not that she disliked other houses, well maybe Hufflepuff, but they were just as useless as the subject of Muggle Studies in her eyes. Her icy blue eyes were still fixed outside on the black lake and now and then something big would come out of the water and land back in.

Paige did not wander a lot, she just hid herself from the public now and then, life was not as great as she wanted it to be. ''Maybe I have seen you once or twice.'' Paige had probably forgotten his face somehow, but she had seen him at Quidditch games probably. The truth was that Paige did not look at faces anymore, since she just could not care. Paige could not answer his question, so she just nodded and tried to look happy even if she was not. She obviously did not want to tell someone she had just met everything that was bothering her, the first thing that she had learned being in Slytherin was ''Everything you say can be used against you'' and that was something Paige lived under. Paige was not always like this, she could be happy sometimes and she was while Quidditch practices and so on, but as soon as she was alone she just started thinking about everything and that made her sad sometimes.